A radical new kind of airship funded by the US military is about to make its first test flight - and it looks uncannily like the Thunderbird 2 craft from the classic TV show.

The Aeroscraft airship will carry three times as much as the biggest military cargo planes over thousands of miles, use a third of the fuel, and it doesn't even need a landing strip.

It could also have major implications for cargo haulage, and almost everything now laboriously transported across the planet's surface by boat, train and lorry could within years be carried through the skies, its makers claim.

I've seen this from a distance twice - once for a few moments before they rushed to close the doors because there was a very light breeze and it was pushing the blimp across the hanger floor, the second time with it trying to lift off, a slight breeze coming by and it nosing into the ground.

I'm sure this is just the growing pains of a prototype, but this was funded as a long shot program, and so far it's lived up to those expectations. I wish them the best of luck, but if someone’s looking to start placing orders, they might want to hold off. I love the design ideas, seems quite possible to work, just not sure how they'll handle the energy requirements in flight for their fancy ballast system.

5
posted on 01/04/2013 12:47:16 PM PST
by kingu
(Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)

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